Style Session: Juno Temple

Actress by day, lingerie designer by night: Juno Temple dishes on the power of the right pair of undies

The teenage trollop Juno Temple so boisterously plays in new film Dirty Girl would certainly not approve of the outfit the English actress is wearing today. Dressed head-to-platform-bootied-toe in Miu Miu, Temple, 22, looks ladylike and New York-y. And absolutely nothing at all like Danielle, the hot pants wearing Oklahoman hell raiser who is the heart and soul of the movie.

Lucky sat down with Temple to get her take on the film and its fashion—the movie meticulous mines the ’80s for everything from music to puffy pink paint­ to feathered hair. (Check out Milla Jovovich’s do in the trailer). She also had a lot to say about underwear—specifically Victorian underpinnings. Well explain…read on.

You are going to be a good person to talk to about fashion, I can tell already!

I want to be a lingerie designer at some point in my life.

I heard about that. What sparked your interest in Victorian lingerie?

When I was pretty young I started wearing vintage slips and little vintage onesies from the Victorian ages over fishnet tights with biker boots, and it kind of became my thing. I love corsetry and, let’s be honest, being a woman is a pretty powerful thing. Underwear just makes you feel good. I’m not a huge makeup person, so in the morning it’s more about picking out my underwear set. I’m wearing the Juno set by Agent Provocateur today. I’m a huge Agent Provocateur fan, and I just think underwear is such a sensual, beautiful thing. If you’re wearing great underwear, you can take over the world!

Do you actually sketch your own designs?

I do and I really hope I can make it happen. I don’t want to stop acting at all, but I hope on the side I can do some lingerie designing.

You were born in 1989. What’s your take on the ’80s? Does it seem like a fabulous time to you, a cheesy time, or both?

I’ve never been crazy about ’80s fashion. Except for some Azzedine Alaia. My mom has a beautiful collection that I’ve started dabbling in! But my parents were very busy in the ’80s doing a lot of rock n’ roll music videos, so my picture of the ’80s was very different than the Dirty Girl picture of the ’80s.The movie is colorful and pop-y. I grew up with a much more punk, rock ‘n’ roll idea of the time. It was really exciting to get to explore a different part of it because it is much more feminine. Much more girly, and at heart I’m a very girly human being.

Your character has some, let’s say, attention-getting, outfits.

I like the fact that my character has more ’70s clothing in a ’80s world. She’s got on her mom’s hand-me-downs. I think the ’70s and the ’90s are my two favorite time periods for clothing. It was really fun to wear all the little rompers and the amazing platform shoes. I got to have this long sleek hair with these beautiful Farrah Fawcett bangs. I think of the ’80s as, like, bad perms. So that was fun. Danielle sticks out like a sore thumb in her high school, especially in Oklahoma where everyone’s much more straight laced. Yes, she looks slutty but in a daaaaamn awesome way!

You seem like a real style chameleon. How do you describe your style?

I think it’s important as an actress to be able to change your look up. In my personal life, my friends tease me for being a bag lady because I’m normally looking quite homeless. Grunge is my favorite. I like to buy a lot of ripped boy jeans, flannel shirts, oversized T-shirts, round sunglasses, lots of necklaces, lots of eyeliner. But I also like the style from movies like Clueless and The Craft. Oh my gosh, I wish I’d brought my bag with me to show you. I have a “Clueless” bag, it’s the new Prada thing, their fluffy bag. You’re going to die when you see it! I named it, because it’s my favorite thing in the world. It’s called Clarence. It’s hot pink—this big fur bag, not real fur, like proper old fake fuzz-fur—with a little Prada sign and a metal chain. It’s very Clueless.

It sounds crazy—in a good way.

I like kilts and knee-highs too, love them! I almost wore that today, actually.

What are some of your favorite places to shop?

There’s one specific thrift store near my house in Los Feliz, called Squaresville. They have a really cool mixture of great old clothes slash second-hand designer stuff. I bought an Alexander McQueen dress there for like 75 bucks and it’s amazing. I’m a big flea market girl too. I like the Melrose Fairfax Flea Market. And I grew up going to the South of France, so I went to a lot of beautiful flea markets there.